Lord Belial "Revelation - The 7th Seal" CD

Sweden’s Lord Belial have been around since 1992 but have gone largely unheard of. Although being predominantly players of black metal, the band have varied their style, playing black/death or like on this new release, melodic black metal. Melodic black metal is a genre that is frequently held in contempt by many black metal elitists but those who are open to the genre will certainly be able to appreciate it, especially with its smooth clear production. In fact, this album was produced by King Diamond’s Andy LaRocque himself. With its cold atmospheres Lord Belial’s seventh full length, Revelation can be compared to the likes of Catamenia and Dissection.
A sinister instrumental ‘7th Seal’ sets the mood of the album and for the most part this mood is realistically contained throughout, aside from some clichéd guitar work. The vocals of Thomas Backelin are of an intense black metal growl that compliments the feeling the album aims to attain. Moreover on the song ‘Vile Intervention’ the vocals become more agonised mid-way, and on ‘’Death As Solution’ shouts are used as opposed to growls, providing some sort of vocal variety. The closing track utilizes growled spoken narration too that does not come off as cheesy at all.
The guitars are always playing beautiful cold music, occasionally pairing melody with heaviness like one ‘Vile Intervention’. However, their highlight is the solos, truly creative. For black metal, solos are never the centre piece but they are certainly worth looking forward to on this album. The only criticism about them is that they sound too joyous at times and appear out of place with the overall mood of the music, like on ‘Ancient Splendor’.
This album is worth picking up and aside from the solos there is nothing really noteworthy on the release yet there is nothing bad at all. Despite this, there is still enough to maintain the listener’s interest through the whole album. Fans of melodic black metal will certainly enjoy this album.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...